Former US President, Donald Trump disparaged writer E. Jean Carroll in a CNN town hall Wednesday night, May 10, one day after a federal jury in New York found him liable for battery and defamation in a civil trial stemming from allegations he raped Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
The jury did not find Trump liable for rape but did find that he sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her when she came forward with her story several years ago. Carroll was awarded $5 million total in damages. After the verdict, Trump claimed that he didn't know Carroll and that he was "silenced" from speaking publicly about the case, despite the fact that the court gave him multiple opportunities to speak at the trial and he declined to do so.
On Wednesday night in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump decried the jury's verdict in the civil case and called Carroll a "whack job," the same sort of language that led to his defamation verdict in the first place.
Trump called Carroll's story "fake" and "made up," even though a jury unanimously and swiftly agreed on the verdict.
Trump was asked what he tells voters who say the verdict disqualifies him from being president.
"Well there aren't too many of them because my poll numbers just came out - they went up," Trump said to the delight of some in the audience.
Trump called the trial a "rigged deal." He also mocked Carroll's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in the department store, and swore on his children's lives that he did not assault Carroll.
"She wasn't raped, OK? ... And I didn't do anything else either, . I swear I didn't .OK, because I don't know who the hell she is," Trump said to laughter from the audience.
After the verdict was read Tuesday, Carroll said in a statement, "I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed."
Comments